Minds That Matter
After decades of wrestling in the darkness of economic and political inequality, American women are living in the light, with exciting opportunities they have earned and deserve.
They just aren’t taking them.
It’s not laziness. From the immigrant sweatshops of the 1800’s to 21st century boardrooms, working women have proved they have the drive and determination to work.
It’s not stupidity. From first grade to the Ivy League, women make the grades, ace the tests and graduate at the top of whatever class they’re in.
It isn’t lack of ability. Since Marie Curie accepted the first Nobel Prize awarded to a woman in 1903, women have won Nobel Prizes in all categories except economics.
It isn’t cowardice. Women have sought positions that brought them in harms way, on Navy ships and Air Force jets, as policewomen, firefighters and astronauts.
Women have added knowledge and skill to every field, from arts and humanities to sports, science and government. Yet, too many women and far too many girls are reluctant to reach for the stars they have been shown.
A woman featured recently in the news spent twenty years learning to be a psychic after leaving a career in law. She had ability, intelligence and commitment, yet squandered it all on the most transient of endeavors. Had she spent that effort learning physics, she could use her insight to read the universe instead of palms and tarot cards.
Women seem too willing to waste their energy and intellect on trivial pursuits. Smart, capable women take the safe, well-traveled track to success in areas that come natural to them, areas that hold no risk of failure. Yet, the gardener who successfully protects her prized tomatoes from pests, might be the botanist who could save the American Chestnut.
The baker with the winning Bake-Off recipe might be the researcher able to create the exact formula for an AIDS vaccine. A mother identifying the Big Dipper to her children could be the astronomer who discovers life on another planet. The women with successful cottage industries making soaps or jellies could be the chemists and biochemists developing cures for cancer.
Eight of the ten fastest growing occupations in this country are science, math or technology related. Over 5.5 million new jobs requiring math and science skills will be available by 2008. Yet, while women make up half the US workforce, they hold only 12 % of the science and engineering jobs in business.
Elementary school children have equal interest and test scores in math and science. But, after middle school, girls perceive their abilities as inferior and lose their aspirations for scientific careers. If girls continue to drift away, the nation's need for scientists and engineers will remain unmet. But more importantly, women will remain underrepresented in professions that make the most significant contributions to humanity and to the quality of life.
Great jobs and gratifying careers are waiting for women. To reach them, we must choose the longer, harder roads; roads that guarantee only challenge, not success; roads pitted with the possibility of failure; roads that may go to uncomfortable, unfamiliar places. We need to take the risk, even when it’s scary. Get the education, even though it’s hard. Do the prep work, even if it’s not fun.
Dian Fossey, a Kentucky occupational therapist intrigued by wild gorillas she saw during an African vacation, established a study site that became an international gorilla research center and published a book recounting her field observations. Because of her work, the gentle animals received legal protection and Dian was awarded a Ph.D in zoology from Cambridge University, without ever taking a class. She was a woman who pursued the education she needed, took the risks and did the work.
That can be any woman. Education doesn’t require a classroom, only the desire-and the decision- to know. Women’s desire to know has survived decades of obstacles.
It’s time to start making the decision.
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